Smithfield Trust Co Grows Position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Smithfield Trust Co lifted its stake in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 42,621 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 2,431 shares during the quarter. Smithfield Trust Co’s holdings in Walmart were worth $3,437,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Walmart by 201.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 2,092 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 1,397 shares in the last quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 165.4% during the 1st quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp now owns 270,147 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $16,255,000 after purchasing an additional 168,346 shares in the last quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walmart by 186.8% during the 1st quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $735,000 after purchasing an additional 7,958 shares in the last quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC grew its stake in Walmart by 211.0% in the 1st quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 1,710,257 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $102,906,000 after acquiring an additional 1,160,354 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis boosted its stake in Walmart by 96.7% during the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 921,820 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $55,466,000 after purchasing an additional 453,101 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on WMT. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised Walmart to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.49.

Walmart Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE WMT opened at $87.18 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $81.75 and a 200-day moving average of $73.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $700.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.51. Walmart Inc. has a 52 week low of $49.85 and a 52 week high of $88.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Walmart had a return on equity of 21.78% and a net margin of 2.92%. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total value of $1,088,850.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares in the company, valued at $49,198,598.40. The trade was a 2.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 29,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.64, for a total value of $2,348,559.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,873,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $312,322,993.92. This trade represents a 0.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Profile

Walmart Inc engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, other units, and eCommerce worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club. It operates supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, and discount stores under Walmart and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, PhonePe and other sites; and mobile commerce applications.